Look The Other Ed
by H-Man89995
Summary: A tribute to YukiMizuno's work. A chance encounter leads to a new perspective for the Eds. Are they really the unluckiest kids and biggest losers of the cul-de-sac? What are the chances that someone else could have it worse than them? And what will they do, when finding someone who actually needs them?
1. One: Encounter

Tribute to Yuki Mizuno/sage of dorks.

OFF: So, let's start with setting things straight, right? Honesty's the best policy and all that.

If you got interested just from reading the title of this story, chances are you're a fan of Yuki Mizuno's work. I don't blame you; her writing is quite good when it comes to tugging one's heart strings, and she doesn't do enough grammatical mistakes to make your inner alarm go 'wait am I really reading this right?'.

It's just… she's not the best. She's decent, definitely, but her writing is rather focused too much on the self-satisfaction side of things, hurrying things like plot development for the sake of having her characters happy. Which… I'll be honest, is not a bad thing. It's not going to be the Next American Novel, but she's writing with all of her heart, and I just don't feel too happy that she doesn't write as well as she could be. She's a writer, but not an author.

That's where this tribute comes in. I'm going to try and write a story based around those same elements of her classic, 'The Aspie Girl', but with less 'wish fulfillment' and more 'fitting with canon', and see how it comes. I can't promise you 'it's better than the original because I say so', but if nothing else, I hope people enjoy this story even then.

And hey – even if you dislike this one, there's always the original for you to prefer.

Enjoy.

* * *

"HONK-HONK!"

The truck shook and trembled as it made its way through the streets, not that she could tell where she was. She hoped it was a street, at least; the road had been too rough for most of the trip so far, and she hadn't really slept at all since she got in there.

True, it was in part because her family hadn't exactly left her with anything to be comfortable in and because she was scared the piled-up boxes would end up falling on her, but even then the truck's loud noises and the amount of times she felt like she was bounced off her makeshift bed were too much for her to take.

Still, now the road felt a little smoother, the drive much less unpleasant than it was up to five minutes ago. Sitting up slightly, she moved towards the small pack that was left with her – a precious gift in its own way, seeing as how it was the only food she had left for this entire trip.

The girl took out a bottle of water from within – Dasani – and drank some of it, the best she could. The lack of trembling was good enough, but it was so dark she didn't want to try and eat anything yet, since she couldn't see it well at all.

She was halfway through her second drink – God, she was thirsty – when the sound of screeching brakes nearly made her spill the entire bottle on herself. She forced herself to swallow what she had and pressed her hands against her ears, trying to make the noise go away, to no avail.

After a little more, the back door finally opened. "Alright, we arrived!" the burly driver man said, the light so bright she couldn't even look at him properly right now. "Grab your stuff and get out. Your family's waiting for you."

She couldn't answer him, and unfortunately looking at the ground was really hard right now thanks to the time spent in that dark area. After a bit, she just nodded, scurrying to grab her things and get out of the truck.

"Weird kid," she heard him say, while she wasn't looking at him. A pang ran through her, making the poor girl flinch and bite her own lip, trying to not react any weirder than she already had.

With a deep breath, she took a quick look around, her eyes going to the ground every so often. She didn't see her family yet…

* * *

"Uuuuwaaaahhh…" A short, pink-skinned boy yawned and licked his lips as he started to wake up, wiping his eyes clean. He was only half-dressed in a sleeveless undershirt and boxers, halfway through scratching his side as he got up, not at all ready to face another day even if it was just Sunday.

He had just gotten himself to the kitchen when he saw a note from his parents. "Huh. They had to leave for the day?" he let out after reading it fully. "Must have been some serious family emergency…"

Of course, considering the note said it had to do with grandpa, he wasn't that worried. The old man was possibly the worst driver he had ever seen, drank and smoked like nobody else, and had lilved through some of the most intense things he had ever heard of, and yet had come out of it with not even a scratch. Sometimes, he wondered if that wasn't where his abnormal resistance had come from – along with the regular beatings and punishments the kids loved to deliver unto him.

Meh. Some cereal would do him good, and at least Ed hadn't gone about sleepeating his way through their houses again. Last time that had happened, Double-D had to go out and replace all of their milk boxes before their parents woke up, unless they wanted to drink Ed's stored milk – and after taking a whiff of it, the instant spoilt state had been enough to make him not want to drink for at least two months.

Bowl in hand, the boy went back to his room. He had just found a way to unscramble the cable on the mini TV he had snuck into his room, and with his parents out, it was the best time to test it out. And besides, it was Sunday; who would bother him so early in the morning?

After setting up his seat in his bed, he turned to the window. Better shut the curtains before enjoying some 'alone time', right? He was about to do that when he saw someone out there, coming in through a hole in his fence. Well, he thought it was someone; the window was still kinda dirty from the last scam he had done. And that sure was annoying; didn't they know this was private property?

He briefly considered yelling at them through the window, but after that mess with Rolf at the start of Summer, he was starting to think that his window was soundproof, and that idea actually appealed to him, so it was a no on that field.

So, through the door it was. What a pain; this was the first Sunday in a long time he had completely for himself at all, and now the ideal peace of that early morning was ruined thanks to some moron entering his house? Oh, he had quite a few words for that person, that was for sure.

"HEY!" he yelled, as soon as he got out; the person flinched at once, turning to face him. "What do you think you're do–"

The words died in his mouth.

The brown hair swished with the turning motion, revealing the face of a glasses-wearing girl, either his age or a bit older. She had a rather conservative outfit on herself, the green shirt and khakis reaching down to her shins looking fitting for this neighborhood, although most girls he knew didn't keep their hair to that length.

It took him a couple of seconds to realize the girl was actually trembling as she stared at him, her brown eyes so wide he could see them past her thick glasses.

"I-I'm s-sorry!" she let out, looking at the ground at once. "I-I… I got lost…"

Her reluctance at looking at him was actually bothersome. He tried to look into her eyes again, but she kept looking away, stepping back as he came closer.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, and she nodded quickly, but still nervously. "Look, if you need to go somewhere, I could–"

"N-no!" she told him, her voice only a bit stronger. "I… I'll go back…"

Before he could stop him, she made for the fence; much to his surprise, there had been a hole in it he hadn't noticed before, though it didn't look like it was very recent either. Was it because of the Kankers going on a rampage or something?

"Well, that was weird," he said, putting it out of his mind for now. "I had better go back home before anyone else sees me like this…"

As he got back inside, however, those brown eyes still intrigued him; it had been too long since he had seen a reaction like that, and yet, it felt awfully familiar…

* * *

OFF: So, what did you think? Did you enjoy it? Did you dislike it? It's only chapter 1, which is why this starting interaction is so different…

I hope this tribute will be good enough for the fans of the original. But either way, I won't give up until it's done!


	2. Two: Morning

OFF: I'd apologize for taking so long to get this done if I were working on a schedule. As it is, I'm just glad I managed to get my thoughts straightened for long enough to write this – although I know where I'm trying to go, I'll admit that I'm leaving a lot of the details up to the actual draft.

For now, I want to thank Nine90 and Yuki Mizuno for leaving reviews. To the latter… yeah, I'd like it if you'd write more, but no pressure on that aspect either. If you're having fun with your Let's Plays, you should do your best with them. If you want, you can leave the 'rewrite' with me, even. At least, I wouldn't mind some ideas for the future…

Enjoy.

* * *

"I'm telling you, guys, she was really there!"

Eddy's insistence in getting his friends during an early Sunday morning was far from a refreshing change, considering neither Ed nor Edd were actually awake this time. True, usually the hatted Ed-boy would be up and at them every morning, but the night before had been spent working on a new miniature and, although it was not at all like the one time where he had spent 14 hours building a toothpick replica of the Golden Gate bridge, it definitely merited some sleep on his part. Not to mention that it usually had to do with them getting ready for a brand new scheme that would certainly only result in their ultimate beatings or punishments, and after an entire summer of that, he could hardly say he wished more of it so soon.

So it was no wonder that when Eddy suddenly arrived at his house with a sleepy Ed in tow, it took invading his room through the window for him to wake up – and even then, not until Eddy had literally dragged him off his sheets. And similarly, it was no wonder that Edd was not in a very happy mood that morning. "Really, Eddy, are you going to be insisting on this all morning?" he asked, as they were seated in his kitchen, making some breakfast for himself and Ed, who was back to napping on his cereal bowl. "You're insisting quite strongly on this personal delusion of yours before we have even finished our first meal of the day."

"Well _maybe_ if you and Ed would pay some attention to me, then you wouldn't be insisting it's a deloosion or whatever!" Eddy snapped, giving him an idea of what Eddy truly meant with this story. "A new girl trying to sneak into my house while my parents are out? She's probably a thief or something!"

Ed just snored bubbles into his cereal, completely ignorant of what his friends were arguing about. When he realized that, Edd found himself wishing that, for once, he were this simple-minded about such difficult subjects. "Eddy, I find it doubtful that any girl would sneak into your house through your fence."

"You didn't see her, Sockhead! She was totally snooping around and as soon as I called out to her, she ran away! That was obviously some kinda thief!" With that, he snorted, full of confidence. "But of course, you need to be twice as smart as me before you can outsmart me, and since the locks were still set and all, she can't have entered!"

Edd wanted to pull on his hat at that point. "And if that's true, Eddy, then why are you so interested in this subject?" he asked, unhappy. "If this so-called thief didn't steal anything, then why"

"It's the spirit of the thing that matters, Double-D!" his short friend went on, looking just as unhappy about this discussion as he was. "I can't have people think I'm an easy target! If this gets out, who knows what Kevin or Jimmy are going to do?"

Edd sighed. "For the last time, Eddy, Jimmy doesn't hate us"

"Says you! Remember what he did to us during that stupid Friendship Day celebration?"

"That was almost a month ago, Eddy! You shouldn't believe the worst of people at all times! Don't you see that this is what has brought upon the very same problems that we faced back then as well?" Eddy glared at him. "I'm sure that Jimmy is simply going through a phase. Give him some time, and I'm sure he will be back to being the sweet and innocent boy who we know and lo"

"More like the sweet and innocent brat who's been a pain in the neck to us for a while now," Eddy groaned, crossing his arms. "Man! Who'd have thought that trying to teach the kid to be cool could backfire so badly on us?"

"To be fair, Eddy, you _did_ try and teach him to be more like yourself…" Edd commented, more to himself than anything else, before taking his seat.

It was around this time that Ed finally managed to wake up, raising his head off his bowl. "Nice nap," he mumbled, soggy cereal sticking to his face.

"Oh dear, Ed, would you wipe your face? You've got cereal all over yourself!" Edd complained, displeased at his lack of hygiene or manners. Ed smiled dumbly in response.

"Can do, Double-D!" he declared, taking what he thought was a napkin to wipe his face as ordered. "Ooh, soft!" Edd and Eddy were about to get to eating when they realized he was dragging their own dishes as well, because he was using the tablecloth to do so.

"MOTHER'S PRIZED TABLECLOTH!" Edd yelled, too surprised by what he was seeing to react properly. Ed did freeze at once, but did not let go of the material just yet. "Ed, let go before you ruin it any further!"

"It's soft." With that comment, the tall Ed-boy pulled on it a bit more, making Edd do the same to keep him from taking it too far. "Ed likes it!"

"Ed! I'm serious, let go! I need to make sure that it can still be cleaned and not covered in your saliva and"

Eddy groaned, as he joined Edd in trying to get the towel off the grip of the big yellow burrhead. Anything but letting this stupid argument continue and something break or worse…

* * *

It was about an hour later when the trio had finally made it out of Edd's house, the tablecloth having been set to dry after going through an extensive cleaning process.

"Ed, sometimes, I wonder whether your simplemindedness isn't just an act to excuse your reprehensible behavior," the aforementioned boy said, still glaring at his tall friend. "Thanks to you, I had an extra and unnecessary chore on Sunday that I would have rather skipped for once!"

"What, are you serious?" Eddy asked him, surprised. "But you love to do chores! We've spent days where you were too busy doing things for your parents!"

"And that's the thing, Eddy. My parents' chores are requested as they need the house to be maintained in the best of conditions. However, Ed ruining one of my parents' prized objects and forcing me to take a Sunday's precious playing time to clean it up is _not_ something I would be proud of! Why, if this happens again, I'll"

Truth be told, neither Ed nor Eddy were paying attention to him at this point, as they headed towards the playground. Although scams were always at a premium, the last beating the trio had earned from the other kids was so bad that even Eddy was willing to give it a break if it meant not letting his square head go through another one of those so soon.

None of them expected to see a truck on the other side of the street, though.

"Huh. Isn't that a moving truck?" Eddy asked the others, and Ed grinned wide.

"It's a choo-choo! I wanna play with the horns!"

"Now, now, Ed, we should probably not bother the nice man who's driving this. I'm sure you know how unpleasant a truck driver can be when in a bad mood, right?" Edd suggested, trying to keep his distress as low as he could, but neither of the other Eds listened to him again. "Surely it would be better to talk to someone else before we do so?"

"Hurry up, Double-D! We're gonna miss the new kid getting their first taste of the cul-de-sac!" Eddy told him, simply, making the poor hatted boy sigh.

"Oh, sometimes I wish they were better-mannered…"

As the trio made their way past the truck and another car they had never seen before – a foreign model by the looks of it – they saw a young man, about nineteen years old or so, arms crossed inwards. He didn't look like he was in a good mood, given how disheveled his hair was, and the leather jacket only made him look even more like a rebel or something.

"Now where did the brat go?" he groaned, looking around. "She _knows_ she never came here before and yet she goes and leaves like that?"

"Um… excuse me?" Edd asked, making him turn towards him. "Are you looking for someone?"

It took him a few seconds to accept that the boy talking to him was wearing a hat that looked like an oversized black sock. "Um… yes. My sister was _supposed_ to be here, but…"

"Your sister?" Eddy repeated, somewhat dismissive. "What, did she get lost or something?"

"I wouldn't doubt that. We just moved in and she's already causing trouble." The young man had a degree of unpleasantness in his tone as he said that, giving them a look. "Stupid brat just doesn't change…"

Ed stared at him as he heard that. At first glance, it'd seem like it was just because both of his friends were staring at him as well, but there was a difference in their stares. Edd and Eddy both stared at him with some confusion, given how unhappy he sounded at the idea of his sister being lost, but Ed… his gaze was focused in a way that was rarely revealed to others.

"What's her name, anyway?" Eddy asked him, once he noticed that Edd was starting to get fidgety in his 'I want to do a good action' way.

"It's Annie, but"

Much to his surprise, Ed suddenly grabbed his friends by the back of their collars and ran off, at full speed. "ANNIE! ANNIE! WHERE ARE YOU, BABY SISTER ANNY?"

He stared at the Eds' departing form for a few seconds. "…the heck?"

"Ed, would you _slow down already_?!" Eddy managed to yell, over Ed's own screams. "Let go, Lumpy!"

"No can do, Eddy! I'm looking for Jenny!" the tall Ed said, before looking at him. "Ooh! I know! Do you wanna look for her too?"

"No! That sounds dumb!" Eddy grumbled, before trying to get out of Ed's strong grip. "Just because you and Sockhead want to do that doesn't mean I want to do that either! Now _let go_!"

"Eddy! You should be ashamed of yourself!" Edd admonished him, even as he had both hands on his had. "That poor child must be completely lost, and you cannot feel even a little bit of compassion for them? Wouldn't you want help being found if you yourself were lost?"

"ANNIE! WHERE ARE YOU, ANNIE?"

"I'm never lost, Sockhead!" the short boy snapped back, glaring at him. "And besides, it's her own fault for being lost, you know! And thanks to Ed being such a hasty jerk, now we're not even getting paid for this!"

Edd nearly slapped his own face after hearing that. "Oh, Eddy, sometimes I wonder how far the depths of your greed and selfishness can reach."

"ANNIE! OH, AAAAANNIIIIEEEE!"

The argument was about to progress further, when the three of them heard a trash can rolling down the street. They stared at it for a bit, before looking at the direction it came from.

Much to Eddy's surprise, it was the girl from earlier, looking all nervous from her position on the ground. "I-I'm sorry!" she stammered, her head low and making it hard for them to see her face. "I didn't mean to… I was just… I'm sorry!"

Ed and Edd both expected Eddy to yell at her for nearly throwing a trash can towards them, but he didn't actually say anything. After one look at each other, Edd managed to tangle himself out of Ed's grip, before walking towards her.

"Excuse me, miss, but… would you happen to be called Annie?" he asked, and after a long moment of hesitation, she nodded. "Ah, I see. So you must be the one we heard about."

"Huh?" She looked at him, her face completely red, only to see his gentle smile.

"You see, your brother told us that you had maybe gotten lost, and"

Before he could continue, however, Ed let go of Eddy and picked Jenny up, helping her get on his back. "Come on, baby sister Annie! Big brother Ed is going to take you home."

Everyone stared at him, after hearing that. "Um, Ed?" Edd let out, hesitantly. "You do realize that you are not her real brother, right?"

"Of course I do, Double-D! I'm not stupid!" Ed replied, apparently in an attempt to joke.

"Then why did you ?"

"Because a baby sister needs a big brother and just like how Sarah is my baby sister and I am her big brother, then when a baby sister like Annie needs help she can count on big brother Ed!"

That explanation reminded Eddy of the time when Ed somehow managed to figure out the meaning of his brother's fake treasure map by using his head on it. He groaned.

"…Ed? Double-D?" Jenny asked, looking somewhat nervous. "Are… are these your names?"

"My name is Ed!"

"And I am also Ed, but with two Ds," Edd explained, while the brown-haired girl tried not to fall off Ed's shoulders. "And the other boy with us is Eddy."

She held on to Ed's head the best she could, trembling somewhat, before looking down. "Ed, Edd, and… Eddy, right?" she repeated, earning some nods.

"Now off to home we go!" Ed declared, before he started running back to where they had come from. Annie bounced on his shoulders, completely taken aback by the sudden rush or the fact that he was nearly bending over.

"Ed, wait up!" Edd cried out, following him the best he could. Eddy just groaned.

* * *

OFF: So, what did you think? The Eds have finally met the female protagonist of this story. Next up, let's see how she'll handle them, alright?

Do your best, or else you'll be hit with a Love Spark!


End file.
